Fr D. Paul Sullins of The Ruth Institute, The Catholic University of America, reported the findings of his research into the issue of homosexuality and Catholic priests in America.
IS CATHOLIC CLERGY SEX ABUSE RELATED TO HOMOSEXUAL PRIESTS?
Executive Summary
This report compares previously unexamined measures of the share of homosexual Catholic priests and the incidence and victim gender of minor sex abuse by Catholic priests from 1950 to 2001 to see if the these matters are related. New data from the 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report are also examined.
Key points:
- Clergy sexual abuse is still a problem. Since peaking 35 years ago, it has declined much less than commonly thought. The decline is consistent with an overall drop in sexual assault in American society.
- Since 2002 abuse has been rising amid signs of complacency by Church leaders, and today is comparable to the early 1970s.
- The share of homosexual men in the priesthood rose from twice that of the general population in the 1950s to eight times the general population in the 1980s. This trend was strongly correlated with increasing child sex abuse.
- A quarter of priests ordained in the late 1960s report the existence of a homosexual subculture in their seminary, rising to over half of priests ordained in the 1980s. This trend was also strongly correlated with increasing child sex abuse.
- Four out of five victims over age 7 were boys; only one in five were girls. Ease of access to boys relative to girls accounts for about one fifth of this disparity. The number of homosexual priests accounts for the remaining four fifths.
- Estimates from these findings predict that, had the proportion of homosexual priests remained at the 1950s level, at least 12,000 fewer children, mostly boys, would have suffered abuse.